338 FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. 
leaden cistern at Kew ; another was found by Mr. 
Sowerby, in the outer gallery of St. Paul’s, on 
cinders ; while a still more extraordinary instance 
is related by Schweinitz of a species of Ethalium 
vegetating on iron which had been subjected to a 
red heat a short time before. ‘A blacksmith,’ he 
says, ‘at Salem, by no means void of sense or cul- 
tivation, had thrown on one side a piece of iron 
which he had just taken from the fire, being called 
off to some other business. On his return in the 
morning, he was astonished to see on this very 
piece, lying over the water in his smith’s trough, 
a quantity of this fungus, of a soft gelatinous con- 
sistency. He immediately sent for Schweinitz 
without moving anything from its place, who was 
equally astonished to find a distinct species of 
fEthalium. The mass of fungi was two feet in 
length, consisting of a series of many confluent in- 
dividuals. It had crept from the iron to some ad- 
jacent wood ; and not, as might be objected, from 
the wood to the iron. The immense mass had 
grown in the space of twelve hours.’ This plant 
forms a yellow pulpy mass, like curdled egg, in 
tan-pits and hot-houses, cucumber and melon 
frames, where it is very common and injurious. It 
is also found on cinders and lead. In the woods 
it grows on mosses. All these curious instances 
show that fungi do not always derive nutriment 
